48 
NATURE 
[SEPTEMBER II, 1913 
Genuine religion has its roots deep down in the 
heart of humanity and in the reality of things. It 
is not surprising that by our methods we fail to grasp 
it: the actions of the Deity make no appeal to any 
special sense, only a universal appeal; and our 
methods are, as we know, incompetent to detect com- 
plete uniformity. There is a principle of relativity 
here, and unless we encounter flaw or jar or change, 
nothing in us responds; we are deaf and blind, there- 
fore, to the Immanent Grandeur unless we have 
insight enough to recognise in the woven fabric of 
existence, flowing steadily from the loom in an infinite 
progress towards perfection, the ever-growing gar- 
ment of a transcendant God. 
SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 
A marked feature of the present scientific era is the 
discovery of, and interest in, various kinds of 
atomism; so that continuity seems in danger of being 
lost sight of. 
Another tendency is toward comprehensive negative 
generalisations from a limited point of view. 
Another is to take refuge in rather vague forms of 
statement, and to shrink from closer examination of 
the puzzling and the obscure. 
Another is to deny the existence of anything which 
makes no appeal to organs of sense, and no ready 
response to laboratory experiment. 
Against these tendencies the author contends. He 
urges a belief in ultimate continuity as essential to 
science; he regards scientific concentration as an in- 
adequate basis for philosophic generalisation; he 
believes that obscure phenomena may be expressed 
simply if properly faced; and he points out that the 
non-appearance of anything perfectly uniform and 
omnipresent is only what should be expected, and is 
no argument against its real substantial existence. 
NOTES. 
In view of the meeting of the British Association, a 
“ Handbook for Birmingham and the Neighbourhood ” 
has been issued (under the editorshiv of Dr. G. A. 
Auden) at the price of 3s. 6d. net by Messrs. Cornish 
Bros., Ltd., Birmingham. The volume is of an en- 
cyclopeedic character, and should be of great service 
not only to members of the British Association, but 
to all who are interested in things pertaining to Bir- 
mingham. The work is divided into five main divi- 
sions—historical, municipal, educational, industrial, 
and scientific. In the latter, which of course appeals 
more especially to our readers, botany is dealt with 
by Prof. West and Messrs. Grove, Humphreys, 
Cleminshaw, and Duncan; Midland reafforesting by 
P. E, Martineau; the ornithology of the district by 
R. W. Chase; insects by H. W. Ellis; mammalia, 
amphibia, reptilia, and pisces by H. E. Forrest; micro- 
scopic aquatic fauna by H. W. H. Darlaston; meteoro- 
logy by A. Cresswell; and the geology and physiography 
of the Birmingham country by Prof C. Lapworth, 
F.R.S. The last-named contribution is  supple- 
mented by very clear geological and topographical 
maps executed by Messrs. John Bartholomew and Co., 
of Edinburgh. Besides these maps, there are a number 
of illustrations in the text. Altogether the volume is 
an admirable production, and worthy of the occasion 
for which it has been prepared. 
Apropos of the British Association meeting, a recent 
number of The Westminster Gazette contains an article 
NO, 2289, VOL. 92] 
on the Lunar Society, the members of which used to 
meet monthly in Birmingham in the eighteenth cen- 
tury, as nearly as possible at the time of full moon 
that they might have the benefit of its light in return- 
ing home—hence the name of the society. Each 
member was permitted to bring a friend, and some 
very distinguished men from time to time enjoyed the 
society’s hospitality. Thus we find that among such 
guests were Sir Joseph Banks, Sir William Herschel, 
John Smeaton, of lighthouse fame, Josiah Wedgwood, 
Prof. Hugh Blair, Afzelius, the Swedish botanist, » 
Daniel Solander, the naturalist, and Andre de Lue, the 
geologist. Among the members of the society or club 
were James Watt, Joseph Priestley, and Erasmus 
Darwin. The Priestley riots dealt a blow to the little 
society from which it never recovered, and it is there- 
fore now no more than a memory. 
Pror. Mitne bequeathed to the British Asso- 
ciation his books, albums, and scientific instruments 
relating to seismology, and, subject to his wife’s in- 
terest, the sum of 1oool. to the chairman of the seis- 
mology committee of the British Association for the 
furtherance of the study of terrestrial physics and its 
attendant subjects. 
A FURTHER grant of ‘s000l., making 10,000l. in all, 
has been made by the Federal Government of the 
| Commonwealth of Australia towards completing the — 
work of the Mawson Antarctic Expedition and bring- 
ing the explorers back. 
THE sum of 90,000 francs has been bequeathed to 
the Pasteur Institute at Paris for the founding of a 
prize for the best original work in the treatment of — 
meningitis. 
WE record, with regret, the death on Saturday last 
of Dr. Hugh Marshall, F.R.S., professor of chemistry 
in University College, Dundee. 
Tue death occurred on September 2, at Abo, Fin- 
land, at the age of sixty-three years, of Dr. O. M. 
Reuter, emeritus professor of zoology in the Univer- 
sity of Helsingfors. 
A BRONZE statue of the late Dr. Ludwig Mond, 
erected by Messrs. Brunner, Mond and Co., Ltd., on 
the lawn opposite Winnington Hall, near Northwich, 
Dr. Mond’s residence, is to be unveiled on Saturday 
next by Sir John Brunner. 
A MEMORIAL of the Russian explorer, Baron E. von 
Toll, in the form of a bronze portrait tablet, is to be 
set up on Kotelnyi Island, in the New Siberia group, 
by the leader of the German Taimyrland Expedition. 
Papers dealing with various problems of heating 
and lighting are to be read by Prof. Bone, F-.R.S., 
Prof. Vivian B. Lewes, Mr. L. Gaster, and Mr. T. 
Thorne Baker at a conference which is to take place 
on October 29 in connection with the National Gas 
Congress and Exhibition. 
Tue plumage prohibition clause in the United 
States Tariff Bill having been sanctioned by the 
Senate the importation into the United States of the 
plumage of wild birds, either raw or manufactured, 
for purposes other than scientific or educational, is 
prohibited. 
